Joan Baez Joins White House's Celebration of Civil Rights Music

Joan Baez has been added to "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement," a PBS special airing this Thursday, February 11th. Baez joins a lineup that includes her partner at the 1963 March on Washington civil rights rally, Bob Dylan. Three original members of the Freedom Singers — Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Rutha Harris and Charles Neblett — have also reunited for the "In Performance" special, which will be hosted by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. The event will feature songs and readings from the Civil Rights era.

Baez and Dylan performed The Times They Are a-Changin' song "When the Ship Comes In" at the March on Washington in 1963, an event that famously included Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. While Baez has been added to the lineup, it's unclear whether or not she and Dylan will perform together. Baez was a member of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue troupe in 1975 and later toured with the rock poet in 1984.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, John Mellencamp, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, Seal, Natalie Cole, John Legend, the Blind Boys of Alabama and Yolanda Adams are also set to perform during the "In Performance" special. Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Queen Latifah and Joanne Woodward will serve as guest speakers for the event, which will air February 11th at 8 p.m. on PBS. "In Performance" will also stream live February 10th at 5:15 p.m. EST. Check back here then to watch the concert below:

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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